TMZ Award for Excellence in Drama: Team Alpha Male
Ronda Rousey has been been a steady source of drama, but Team Alpha Male has been a full-blown soap opera all year. Every General Hospital storyline, ever, has come up in 2015. Jealousy? The Urijah Faber-TJ Dillashaw-Duane Ludwig love triangle. Heart-wrenching tragedy? The Fall of Chad Mendes. Young love? Paige VanZant and Cody Garbrandt. Young heartbreak? Paige VanZant and Cody Garbrandt. Sudden departures? Martin Kampmann’s return to Europe. The camp has been one of the most successful in the history of the sport for years now, but it’s possible we’ll see them dissolve completely in 2016.
Honorable Mention: Ronda Rousey and Co.
Frye-Takaya Award for Best Fight: Patricio Freire vs. Daniel Straus 2
Freire and Straus fought twice in 2015 and while both were fun, their match at Bellator 132 ended up being the top fight of 2015. Straus picked up an early lead, laying some serious punishment down on Freire, but ended up getting hit with a hard point deduction. Freire started battling back in the third and, while he could have been content in bringing it to the judges, he went for the finish. Hard. In the final seconds of the fourth round, he wobbled Straus standing and knotted up a choke to score the finish.
Honorable Mention: Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald 2
Keith Kizer Award for Worst Athletic Commission Decision: The Five-Year Ban on Nick Diaz
The NSAC was rightly arrogant heading into the Nick Diaz hearing. For decades, they have been the unchecked, unquestioned authority of combat sports. Much like Missouri’s police, they can do whatever they want for whatever reason and if you question it, they will freaking end you. But then Nick Diaz happened. The UFC broadcasted Diaz’s hearing and their institutional evil was exposed to the world. That led to a massive petition to the White House that yielded over 100,000 signatures and actually pressured the NSAC into seeking a settlement with Diaz which could result in him returning to the cage in 2016.
Honorable Mention: NSAC Ignores Their Own Suspension Guidelines
Continue to the next page:
Page 2 of 3:
